Choosing a Pen Name

When I started this blog, I decided to remain anonymous, signing all my posts as Newbie Author. I worried that, since I planned to blog about mistakes made while writing my first novel, I thought it might hurt later efforts to attract agents and publishers.

I’ve decided that my original reasons for blogging anonymously were unwarranted. However, now that I can see my way to the completion of my manuscript, and I have started to think seriously about getting it published, I noticed that there are a half-dozen authors with books in print using variations of my real name. (How dare they!)

Realizing that a new author needs to stand apart from the crowd, I decided I needed a pen name.

I thought the process of selecting a pen name would be easy. Instead, I found myself agonizing over the nuances of each name I considered. What impressions might it create? Were there hidden meanings? For the longest time, none of the names felt right. I bombarded friends and family with ideas. Often, when I researched names that felt okay, I would find it already belonged to some one famous (or in one case, infamous). But finally, I invented a name that felt right — and didn’t belong to anyone else on Facebook or Google.

I selected Dax MacGregor as my pen name.  Dax now has his own author website.

But since Newbie Author has received a lot of positive feedback and recognition, I didn’t want to remove all mentions of him. For example, Newbie received an invitation to guest blog at Novel Publicity. He’s also been interviewed by Self Publishing Coach. On Twitter, he’s  developed a modest following.

So hop  on board. There are lots of option: Follow me on Twitter. Like my Facebook Page. Connect with me on LinkedIn. Subscribe to our RSS feed. Or get updates by email.

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There’s more to come!